On modern Oriental usages, see Hackett, Illustrations of Scripture, p. 97-100; De Saulcy, Dead Sea, ii, 103-1C5, 170; Thom- son, Land and Book, i, 148 sq. ; Van Len- nep, Bible Lands, p. 579 sq. ; Lane, Modem Ju/i/ptiaus, i, 267, 359, etc.; and on ancient sepulture, the monographs cited by Volbe- ding. Index Programmatum, p. 49, 66, 67 ; and Ilase, Leben Jesu, p. 217 ; and those re- ferred to under Funkkal.
SEPULCHRE .OF ClIRLST. This has been alluded to in the foregoing article, but the interest of the subject demands a fuller treatment. The traditional site is now oc- cupied by the " Church of the Holy Sepul- chre," and the question of the identity of the locality is fully discussed under Cal- VAUY ; Golgotha. Its general position is sufficiently indicated under. Ikuusai.em, and in the maps accompanj'ing that article and Palestink. a full description of the build-
SEPULCHRE
564
SEPULCHRE
ing is given by Porter, TTand-bnoh for Palest'me, p. 155 sq. ; also in the various books of travels in the Holy Land. We have only space for a brief outline of this extensive and interesting structure, which will be intel- ligible by the aid of tlie annexed plan.
1. Exterior. — The approach to it from every direction lies through narrow, filthy lanes, and small bazaars gen- erally filled with ragged Arab women, the venders of veg- etables and snails, the latter of wliichare much eaten here, especially during Lent. After many crooked turnings we arrive iu the large square court in front of the church. Here the scene exhibited, in tlie height of the pilgrim season, is of the most motlej' and extraordinary appear- ance. On the upper raised steps are tables spread with coffee, sherbet, sweetmeats, and refreshments; through- out the court are seated peddlers and tlie Bethlehemite venders of holy merchandise, such as crosses, beads, ro- saries and amulets, and mother-of-pearl shells, which are generally brought from the Red Sea, and engraved with religious subjects chiselled iu relief; models of the Holy Sepulchre in wood inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and drinkiug-cups from the deposits of the Jordan, with verses from the Bible engraved on them ; they are near- ly as black as ebony, and take a fine polish. Through these wares hundreds of ])ersons pass and repass — pil- grims of many nations in their different costumes ; Lat- in, Armenian, Russian, Greek, and Coptish friars, with Turkish, Arnaoiit, and Arab soldiers — all forming the most extraordinary scene that could be foinid in any spot upon the globe ; and a polyglot language is heard such as few other places in the world could exhibit.
The key of the church is kept by the governor of the city; the door is guarded by a Turk, and opened only at fixed hours, and then only with the consent of the three convents and in the presence of the several drago- mans, an arrangement wliich ofteu causes great and vex- atious delays to such as desire admittance. This formal- ity was probably intended for solemnity and effect, but its consequence is exactly the reverse; for as soon as the door is opened the pilgrims, who have almost all been kept waiting for some time and have naturally be- come impatient, rush in, struggling with each other, overturniug the dragomans, and are thumped by the Turkish doorkeeper, and driven, like a herd of wild ani- mals, into the bodv of the church.
2. First Interior Room. — Supposing, then, the rush over, and the traveller to have recovered from its effects, he will find himself in a large apartment, forming a sort of vestibule ; on the left, in a recess in the wall, is a large divan, cushioned and carpeted, where the Turkish door- keeper is usually sitting with half-a-dozen of his friends, smoking the long pipe and drinking coffee, ami always conducting himself with great dignity and propriety. Directly in front, within the body of the church, hav- ing at each end three enormous wax candles more than twenty feet high, and a number of silver lamps sus- pended above it of different sizes and fashions — gifts from the Catholic, Greek, and Armenian convents — is a long flat stone called the " Stone of Unction," and on this it is said the body of our Lord was laid when taken down from the cross and washed and anointed in prepa- ration for sepulture. This is the first object that ar- rests the pilgrims on their entrance, and here they pros- trate themselves in succession, the old and the young, women and children, the rich man and the beggar, and all kiss the sacred stone. It is a slab of polished white marble, and only does dutj' as a substitute for tlie gen- uine stone, which is said to be beneath it: but this con- sideration in no degree affects the multitude or the fer- vor of the kisses it receives. As you advance towards the stone you have Mount Calvary immediately on your right hand.
Beyond the Stone of Unction the traveller finds him- self in the body of the church, a space of about 300 feet in length and IGO in breadth. In front his progress is arrested by the southern exterior of the Greek Chapel, which occupies more than half the great area ; on his left, at the western end, is a circular space about 100 feet in diameter, surrounded bj' clumsy square columns, which support a gallery above, and a dome 150 feet high, of imposing appearance and effect. This is the Latin Chapel, in the centre of which, immediately below the aperture that admits light through the dome, rises a small oblong building of marble, twenty feet long, twelve broad, and about fifteen feet in height, surmount- ed by a small cupola standing on columns. This little building is circular at the back, but square and finished with a platform in front. Within it is what p;isses for the Holy Sepulchre. We reserve its description for the last.